MOTORSPORT: German develops Commodore aero

The crucial aerodynamics of the 2018 new-generation Holden Commodore Supercar are being shaped by a German aerodynamicist who also played a role in developing the aero package for Betty Klimenko's now sidelined E 63 racer.

Florian Höfflin quietly joined official Holden factory team Triple Eight Race Engineering (T8) in February, after working for Mercedes-AMG's motor racing partner HWA AG for more than eight years.

His T8 title is senior design engineer specialising in aerodynamics.

The Erebus Motorsport E63, which controversially raced in Supercars between 2013 and 2015, is listed by Höfflin as one of his projects at HWA along with all Benz DTM race cars between 2008 and 2015 and the AMG SLS GT3.

Klimenko, the only female Supercars team owner, spent millions with HWA developing the E 63, which won two races in three years, before parking it to race Holden Commodores in 2016.

Most recently at HWA Höfflin was lead engineer for all wind tunnel projects and before that a racecar development and design engineer.

Höfflin joined Triple Eight in part because of the shock departure of the operation's long-time technical chief Ludo Lacroix to rival Supercars team DJR Team Penske.

The Frenchman is a renowned aerodynamicist and rated as the best design and development engineer in Supercars. He would play a key role in developing the Ford Mustang for Supercars competition if team owner Roger Penske succeeds in his campaign to get it on the track.

2018 Holden Commodore race car to benefit from F1 know-how
Höfflin is an addition to a technical team that has been working on the new Commodore since September 2016. The car will make its racing debut at the opening round of the 2018 championship but will likely be seen in public for the first time running demonstration laps at this year's Bathurst 1000 in October.

As with all Supercars, the aerodynamic package will be crucial to its success.

But the new Commodore adds a further complication because it will swap from the known Chev V8 to a twin-turbo V6 engine.

T8 boss Roland Dane confirmed Höfflin's arrival at the operation when contacted by motoring.com.au, but refused to comment further.

Höfflin, who also had two years F1 experience with the now defunct Toyota team, isn't the only new recent arrival at T8, as the squad has added a total of four new engineers to its line-up. Australian ex-F1 engineer Sam Michael has also been working part-time for the team in a mentoring role since last November.

The added head count is designed to help cope with the challenge of running three VF Commodores in the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship for Shane van Gisbergen, Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes, servicing a growing customer base in the VASC and Dunlop Super2 categories and developing the new generation car.

The three new Commodore VFs T8 has built for its drivers for the new season will make their dynamic debut with a crucial test of new construction Dunlop control tyres next week. All teams will have their first test, which will be followed by the traditional VASC opening race, the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide on March 2-5.

VASC champion van Gisbergen and runner-up Whincup will race for the newly unified Red Bull Holden Racing Team, while Lowndes runs under the Team Vortex banner for the second year.